neurodivergence
Neurodivergence
This week is Neurodiversity Celebration Week, so it seems appropriate to share my experience at a conference down south which I attended this weekend. I was blown away by a brilliant workshop on neurodivergence. The very well-informed leader combined knowledge with real understanding and personal experience, bringing the issues vividly to life. I actually know quite a number of people who are neurodivergent (approx 1 in 7 of the population), but I learned a lot and hope to be more aware and sensitive in future.
The experience also made me reflect on the value of story in helping us to understand different life experiences. The course facilitator used examples from her own home life to excellent effect, but two fictional dramas also sprang to my mind, both of which highlight autism. (Click on the pictures for the official trailers)
The A Word centres on a little boy – Joe Hughes – and his family adjusting to life with his differences.
And a Belgian/British detective drama, Patience, features an older main character – Patience Evans – who utilises her unique skills to solve crimes.
With facts and figures and lists of behaviours fresh in my mind, I’m valuing in a new way the attention to detail script-writers and actors bring to the table.
If you’ve met one individual with autism,
you’ve met one person with autism.
(Dr Stephen Shore)
Obviously no two people with autism are the same but some of the main features emerge clearly through these dramas: obsessive tendencies, deep special interests, sensitivity to noise, fear of criticism or being wrong, difficulty interpreting body signals and struggles with interaction, thinking outside the box, obsession with rules, love of puzzles, brutal honesty. And in both productions, the potential to misunderstand and compound the problems and get it so wrong, are highlighted.
I take my hat off to the teams behind such works of fiction for their sensitivity, awareness and courage tackling such tricky topics, and highly recommend both of these programmes.